Where I Go The Happy Body Goes

Laura-Jean Anderson (49-year-old actress)

I have been doing the Happy Body for several years. I started the year my husband served as president of a professional association, and we were traveling non-stop all over the world. I found it easy to stay on the program while I was traveling and out of my normal routines. I lost a lot of weight and began to like myself again. I finally became who I felt I was supposed to be, and people noticed. Previously, I had withdrawn from social interaction. Now I find that people are attracted to me, and life is so much more fun.

After that first year was over, life never really returned to normal, as we prepared to move to another country and rent our home in California. With all that disruption, paying attention to my exercising and eating was actually a comfort, and it helped me keep my focus.

Since the move, I have been traveling back and forth to Europe, living in two places that aren’t my house, and dealing with the stresses of culture shift and a lot of other big changes. This last Thanksgiving, as we went around the table saying what we were grateful for, it was hard to think of something. I normally come up with more gratitude than anyone wants to hear about, but this time I drew a blank. My life had become too chaotic. Then, it came to me. I said I was grateful for the things that hadn’t changed and that helped me stay grounded in the storm. The Happy Body was one of those things.

The morning ritual of my exercises and meditation, of eating nourishing food every three hours, has kept me centered. In the past, I would not have been able to focus on my well being in the midst of all this change. Because the Happy Body is a way of life, a daily practice of honoring and nurturing yourself, it provided me structure within the chaos. In the last 18 months I have been a bit of a nomad, not quite sure where my home is; but no matter where I go, I take the Happy Body with me. I don’t need to go to a specific place to get it. It is an integral part of me and my life, which helps me to be who I am wherever I go and whatever is happening.